I've recently re-discovered the Horatio Hornblower books by C. S. Forester, after a gap of many years. They are much more exciting than I remember. And also more enjoyable given that I now know more of the historical background.

If you are looking for historical naval novels set against the Napoleonic Wars, I can recommend these books. Start with Mr. Midshipman Hornblower. Although it wasn't the first to be written, it is the first in chronological order - the one that introduces the character.

The only problem I have is the baffling nautical terminology. I just have to ignore that.

Yes, they are wonderful stories. For those us in the UK, they're usefully collected in 3 omnibus editions: "The Young Hornblower", "Captain Hownblower, R.N." and "Admiral Hornblower", plus one book left over at the end of the series ("Hornblower and the Crisis").

I recently re-read these as well, and can very much recommend them. In some ways, they're not as good, IMO, as the O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin books, but they are still excellent. (The Alexander Kent Bolitho books are good, but I'd put them a step down from the Hornblower or O'Brian books.)

And, if you like historical fiction, you absolutely have to read the George MacDonald Fraser Flashman series. They take place in the Victorian era and are very accurate, interesting and VERY funny.

I agree, and there are lots of footnotes and documentation. But at least in the ebook version I tried a couple of years ago the formatting was pretty poor. I have all the paperbacks, and might try again to see if the formatting has improved.